"The Essence of Sanctions on Micron is Political... It's Wrong"
US Ambassador to South Korea Nicholas Burns said on the 7th (local time) that China's sanctions against US Micron are "wrong" and "we will resist and push back against them." Regarding the Ukraine war, he emphasized the need to pressure Russia to withdraw and play the role of mediator.
Ambassador Burns participated via video in the 'Global Impact Forum' held in Washington DC on the same day and stated, "It essentially looks political. From China's perspective, it is retaliation against US export controls, but this is wrong."
He criticized, "We have witnessed five US companies being targeted by the Chinese government over the past few months. This has not happened to companies from other countries. We oppose some practices of the Chinese government." Earlier, China imposed business suspensions and raids on Deloitte, Bain & Company, Capvision, Mintz Group, including a ban on sales of Micron products.
Regarding China's intellectual property rights infringement issues, Ambassador Burns said, "We are demanding that the Chinese government comply with its commitments under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and prevent Chinese companies from exploiting the intellectual property rights of US companies," adding, "Japan, the European Union (EU), and South Korea are doing the same."
On the strengthened counter-espionage law to be implemented in China next month, he expressed concern that "activities such as collecting due diligence data for joint venture reviews are also included as espionage," and "academics, students, and scientists who routinely use data could also be at risk."
Regarding mediation efforts in the Russia-Ukraine war, Ambassador Burns emphasized, "The first is trust in sovereignty and territory, which has been threatened by Russia's invasion," and "Pressuring Russia to withdraw is the right choice for China."
On the same day, Kurt Campbell, White House National Security Council (NSC) Indo-Pacific Coordinator, expressed the position of competing with China while avoiding conflict and seeking areas for cooperation.
In a discussion at the Washington DC think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), he said, "We certainly think the dominant frame of US-China relations at the bilateral level is competition, and it is likely to continue that way." He added, "But at the same time, we want to limit competition to a responsible scope and avoid it escalating into confrontation," and "We want to build guardrails (safety measures) to avoid conflict and send a signal that we want to avoid a new Cold War."
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